Snow makes city walkways unsafe; DPW overwhelmed in big storms

Jim Lockwood / Staff Photo
A pedestrian forced to walk in the road because of snow-covered sidewalks is nearly hit by a car in the Spruce Street Complex in Scranton.

Michael J. Mullen / Staff Photographer
A couple yields to a group on a single-file, snow-covered sidewalk on the West Lackawanna Avenue bridge Monday afternoon. Recent snowstorms have covered city sidewalks, and they've stayed that way.

Finding the ice- and snow-covered sidewalk nearly impassable, a man walking to South Scranton from the downtown Monday afternoon took to the busy road.

Dirty, bumpy, jagged and uneven ice and snow - about 1 foot higher than the road - made the sidewalk across from the Electric City mural near Spruce Street and Lackawanna Avenue treacherous even for more sure-footed pedestrians.

As the pedestrian continued on the road, one car slowed to almost a full stop to avoid hitting him.

Such a no-win situation for pedestrians on many of Scranton's slippery sidewalks in the wake of the recent snowstorms is a cause for concern, city council President Bob McGoff said.

During council's meeting on Saturday, Mr. McGoff said he spoke with city Department of Public Works Director Dennis Gallagher about snow- and ice-covered sidewalks on bridges and roads leading to and from downtown making walkways impassable and creating dangerous situations. Mr. McGoff cited the Spruce Street Complex, Cedar Avenue and West Lackawanna Avenue as arteries that have dangerous, impassable sidewalks.

"You have people walking out in the road to avoid the snow and people driving in and out of downtown. It can become very dangerous," Mr. McGoff said. "I think we need to develop some way of getting these walkways cleared when there is a snowstorm, because there are many people that do walk into the downtown from some of the closer areas."

Downtown sidewalks present a hodgepodge of good-and-bad conditions. Many walkways are clear or mostly passable, but many intersections are sloppy and slippery. Bare sidewalks within any given block offer a stark contrast to the ice, slush and snow where walkways meet roads at intersections.

Mr. McGoff said Mr. Gallagher's response was that the city does not have enough DPW personnel, time or equipment to clear the entire city of snow after major storms such as the one-two punch in the past two weeks.

"In a major snowstorm, we don't have enough people, enough time, enough equipment to really work at clearing the whole city," Mr. McGoff said.

He added that in such instances, a mayor can issue emergency declarations and bring in private contractors to assist the DPW with plowing and snow removal, but that is very costly.

"With that said, I'll reiterate I think the DPW does an adequate job of snowplowing, given the parameters with which they have to work," Mr. McGoff said.

The DPW's Highways Bureau has 27 employees. The city budgeted $130,000 in overtime for snowplowing and as of last week already had spent $37,000 or almost 29 percent.

Other council members also discussed the city's plowing and removal of snow from streets, parking lanes and sidewalks. Councilman Pat Rogan noted one resident from the 1500 block of South Irving Avenue complained about the DPW's plowing and snow removal in that sloped block that has road lanes on two different grades.

Councilman Bill Gaughan said the city should consider alternate-side-of-the-street parking after snowstorms for better snow removal. However, Mr. McGoff said alternate-side parking may be possible downtown, but would not be practical in the neighborhoods. The concept was reviewed several years ago but not pursued, he said.

Removing plowed piles of snow is yet another dilemma, Mr. McGoff said. The city has been trucking snow from downtown to the South Side Sports Complex, but that area is running out of room, he said. If the city is hit with more significant snowstorms without any melting, snow may have to be trucked to Nay Aug Park, he said.

" We're running out of spots to put it. The days of dumping snow into the Lackawanna River are over. You can't do that," Mr. McGoff said. "Hopefully, the temperatures go up and it removes itself, but that's not likely to happen very soon."

Contact the writer: jlockwood@timesshamrock.com, @jlockwoodTT on TwitterMore snow on the way

Northeast Pennsylvania will get another 3-6 inches of snow today, which will taper off toward noon, according to AccuWeather meteorologist Tyler Roys.

More precipitation could fall Wednesday, though it will be more of a sleet, slush and slop, Mr. Roys said. Temperatures will rise later in the week, reaching the 40s on Thursday and 50 on Friday. More, B12

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